Sunday, March 1

Wrote in December 2007 in this blog:
“So, how many Muslim Malays actually realized that the Catholic newsletter ‘The Herald’ publication permit will be withheld unless it stops its Malay section? The Malay section has used “Allah” to refer to God, I mean to be more specific, Christian god and father of Jesus Christ, while the English section still uses the term ‘God’. Two different terms for God in one edition. When the Malaysian government has decided to stop this practice from continuing, with a Minister stating that the term “Allah”, “solat” and “Baitullah” are reserved for Islam religion, so as not to confuse Muslims in this country, the Catholics protest.
Hmmm…I’m really amused. There they are, the Christians, the politicians, and the ‘human rights’ activists all hopping mad about this issue and putting the blame on the government-led politicians, while the rest of us go about our daily lives peacefully. And what’s the issue?

Christians claim that they have the right to use ‘Allah taala’ in their Malay-language Bible, and in other publications for East Malaysian Christians. They also claim that ‘Allah’ is a Arabic terminology for God in the Arab nations, so all Arabs, whether they’re Muslims, Christians or Jews, call their gods ‘Allah’. And yes, some Malaysians agree with this view; that it’s all right for Christians to use this term ‘Allah’ in their sermon, and in their missionary work among Malaysians.

I disagree. The Arabic word for God is NOT Allah; it is ‘Ilah’. Even the writing is different between ‘Ilah’ and ‘Allah’. But then I suppose Malaysian Christian don’t read Arabic. La ilaha illallah means There is no god but Allah.

Funny really. All my life till recently, I had always believed that Christians, Buddhists and Hindus in Malaysia steer away from using the term “Allah” as a reference to God. Ask any Chinese ‘AhPek’ or Indian ‘Ayahmah’ on the street who “Allah” is and they’d tell you it’s the Malay’s god. Non-Muslims won’t even stop by nor touch anything which has the Arabic writing of ‘Allah’ or ‘Muhammad’ at the stores. If a beer-drinking pork-eating non-Muslim Malaysian man suddenly cries out, “Ya Allah! Masya-Allah! Allah Akbar..!!” his friends will be so horrified they’d probably think he’s possessed by the devil. They won’t calmly sit beside him and say, “Oh, he’s talking about the God of us all, our Creator.”
I went to Christians services in many churches in West Malaysia – Methodists, Baptists, AOG, Catholics – and I had never heard the word “Allah” mentioned by the pastor or priest. ‘Alamak’ doesn’t count, ok.

So why do Catholics now insist on the terminology which has been used by Muslim Malays in Malaysia for centuries to refer to the God in Islam? Oh sure, Arab Christians use that term before Islam arrives in our land but heck, we are not in Saudi Arabia. All Arabs use this term to refer to God because it’s their only language. We’re in Malaysia and the documented Malay translation for God is Tuhan, not Allah. That’s why we have our Rukunegara as ‘Kepercayaan kepada Tuhan.’ to refer to all gods. Well, if some people seems to demand for the use of ‘Allah’ to refer to everybody’s gods, then perhaps we should change our Rukunegara into ‘Kepercayaan kepada Allah’ to keep everybody happy 😛

Why can’t Catholic Christians use the term ‘Tuhan’ in their Malay Bible, etc to refer to their Christian god? I’ve checked but I can’t find the exact Iban word for God. However, I’m very sure that the Iban word for god is not Allah taala. It is just so that ever since the missionaries converted the Ibans (who had believed in animism) to Christianity, the term Allah taala has been used. They can get their message of God across by other terms such as God or Tuhan; why insist on using the term ‘Allah’ which Malaysians know is sacredly used by Muslims in this country to refer to God in Islam? Isn’t that trying to be mischievous and stirring up confusion among the public?And that makes me wonder why the double standard; in West Malaysia, they use God in English sermons, but in East Malaysia where the majority are Malay speakers, they have chosen to use Allah taala instead to refer to the same god. Christian speakers dare not use the term ‘Allah taala’ before non-Iban congregation in West Malaysia because they know that Mandarin-speaking, Hindu-speaking and English-speaking Christians generally associate that word ‘Allah’ with Islam. Hah, the double standards. They can’t even agree on which term to call their own God, so why so hell-bent on using ‘Allah’ for the Malay-speaking Christians?So why must Christians now insist on using ‘Allah’ for the Herald Malay section when they know very clearly that it is the name used by Muslims in this region for centuries before the first arrival of the Portuguese Christians in the 14th century? Some say they’re fighting for human rights? Yeah, go ahead and bark. If they are sincere, they’d change the term from ‘Allah’ into ‘Tuhan’ to get their massage and propaganda across. They don’t have to import Bibles from Indonesia with the term ‘Allah’; After 50 years of independence, most Sarawakian and Sabahan Christians are literate in Bahasa Malaysia; they can publish their own Bahasa Malaysia Bibles. Unless of course, there is something else in their mind besides giving Bibles to Catholic Ibans?

As far as I know, Christians have no specific name for God. Some Christians think that it is Yahweh but then they are not sure themselves. Ask any Christian, or better still, a Roman Catholic, what the name of his or her god is, and I doubt he or she will say, “Allah”. The word that refers to God in Malaysian churches differs based on the languages of the Christian worshippers. A Chinese-based church may have a different terminology for God compared to an Indian-based church. I bet a Chinese pastor will not tell his Mandarin-speaking congregation to “pray to Allah, father of our Yesoh(Jesus)’ else he might find the church empty the following week.But go ask any true Muslims the same question. We, Muslims are told that our God has 99 names, and the greatest name is Allah. It is written in the al-Quran itself. So all Muslims, throughout the world use “Allah” to refer to the God in Islam, the God of Prophet Muhammad and all prophets before him.

Even in translated versions of al-Quran, in Chinese, English etc, the name “Allah” is intact and not translated. That is the essence of Islam, for there is never a dispute about what the name of the Muslim God is. I don’t agree with those people who claim that we all pray to one god, therefore we have rights to call our gods in any way we want. Perhaps they can do that to their own gods but not the god I worship. My God “Allah Subhanahu Wa Taala” is not the same as the god Christians pray to. Allah s.w.t that I bow to does not have a human son. Allah who created me does not allow drinking of liquor and eating of pork. That is why I support the ban on the Malay section of the Herald for their use of “Allah” in their publications.Until the day all churches in West and East Malaysia use the term “Allah’ to refer to Christian god, I think that Christians have no base to claim the use of ‘Allah’ in their publications, here in Malaysia.

Also the Christians in America and British would most probably freak out if they are told that they have to call their God ‘Allah’ for haven’t they associated all things Islam to terrorism? And today, after all the bombings at Arab nations, the persecutions and mistreatments of Muslims in the West, some ‘enlightened’ Christian priests actually suggest the use of “Allah’ for God in the Western churches in order to bring Christians and Muslims together? How ironic.

Some Muslim Malays even say that since we are all Allah’s creatures, just allow the Christians to use it. We should be proud that Malaysian Christians want to use the word in publications,Bible and churches. Why all the fuss over one word? True enough, we are all Allah’s creations. However, if they are using His holy name for unIslamic purposes, should we as Muslims just stand by and allow that to happen?

March 2009
My opinion has not changed. In Islam Allah is the one and only God. He is the Eternal and Absolute. He begets not nor is He begotten. And there is none like Him.
Allah certainly has no son called Jesus Christ. Allah certainly does not exist in a concept of trinity.
This is Malaysia. Islam is here way before the arrival of Christianity. The name of Allah as the supreme God worshipped by Muslims has been used since the time Islam is spread to this region centuries ago.
When you go to a new home, you ask the host for permission to enter. If he says “Take off your shoes, this is Malaysia,” as a respectful guest, you’d take off your shoes. You wouldn’t impose your own cultural beliefs by rudely saying,”Oh,in my country, we wear shoes in our homes,” and proceed to step into the host’s living room with dirty shoeprints, would you?
Remember each country has its own laws and history. Here Allah has been widely accepted as the name of the Muslim God, Kaabah as the Muslim holy place and solat as the Muslim way of praying. Let’s keep it that way.

22 comments:

agreed with you kak Aliya. i can their ‘mala fide’. they are not really sincere to find the truth. rather they want convey their religion towards Muslims especially malays.

poor misguided people. in the west they begin abandoned christianity. only two places christianity seems gain acceptence – asia and africa. place where backward minded people roosting like a chicken. not all are backward, but most of them.

Simply because Allah is the only God, our God. Christians already lost in their goal to confuse the muslims to accept their idea of trinity and Christianity, which a any sane mind will know its wrong and man made. If there are any Christians out there who thinks otherwise, I suggest you read your bible. I read the bible a few times and still see the flaw and error of human mistake even though the new publications tried to cover it up.

Reminds me of the dialogue of Muhammad (may peace be upon him) and the Christians. Our beloved Muhammad (mpbuh)even invited the Christians into the mosque and they (Christians) even prayed inside the mosque.

Yes there is only one God that is Allah. Not Gods. Only one God. Allah S.W.T. The Christians will try to use Allah’s name to spread their religion. Along the way i am sure many will come to realize the truth of Islam when they try to understand the word ‘Allah’. They will learn that Jesus is not Allah. Even the Jewish knows that.

For example if I ask where is this word ‘Allah’ in your bible, then they will show you a malay bible.

They ask them do they know that the malay bible is just translation. They they will say they dont know. Then tell them The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was written in Greek. AND THERE IS NO SUCH WORD AS ALLAH IN THE REAL ORIGINAL BIBLE.

AND JESUS SPEAKS ARAMAIC NOT HEBREW OR GREEK!

I can only see doors of opportunity to do da’wah to the Christians in Malaysia. We need to do our part to tell the confuse Christians who Allah really is.

And yes. Allah is the one and only God. He is the Eternal and Absolute. He begets not nor is He begotten. And there is none like Him.

(the above is my personal opinion and I strongly believe if all Muslims do their very best, one day all the Christians will even stop using the word Allah because when they know the truth and lies, they will not want to be Christians)

“They can get their message of God across by other terms such as God or Tuhan; why insist on using the term ‘Allah’ which Malaysians know is sacredly used by Muslims in this country to refer to God in Islam? Isn’t that trying to be mischievous and stirring up confusion among the public?And that makes me wonder why the double standard; in West Malaysia, they use God in English sermons, but in East Malaysia where the majority are Malay speakers, they have chosen to use Allah taala instead to refer to the same god.”

sounds like they have ‘udang sebalik batu’ by using the word Allah Taala. I believe it is part of their mission in converting more people to Christianity and now their target is Malay Muslims.

i think the reason is clear. they merely want to confuse the mind of some simple minded Malays, by telling them that their version and understanding of Allah is the same as Muslim, so there is nothing wrong to follow the Christian teachings since both use Allah.

It is not about the fact that Allah is the ONLY God. We Muslims know that very well, but the danger of how the use of Allah in the Christian publications and the effect on the understanding of the concept is the issue here. The same issue would apply if a Buddhist decides to name his berhala as Allah, then should we allow that, since Allah is the ONLY God, and we shouldnt object to his using of the name Allah for his idol, if we follow the Christian publication way.

Before anyone use Allah to refer to his or her God, he or she should first accept and recite the syahadah, confirming Islam as his or her religion. The usage of Allah simply to refer to any form of God in the name of any religion is absolutely wrong and unacceptable, in any condition and by any reason.

Any Christians will agree with the first phase but non will agree with the latter. They agree there is no God but Allah S.W.T. (even though Christians believe in trinity which actually the opposite) but they will not agree that Muhammad(pbuh) is Allah’s messenger.

No Buddhist will use the word Allah because there is no God in Buddhism. Anyway for Hindu they have their idol names. The only religion that will or might use it is the Christians and maybe Sikhs. We know how the Christians is actually the devil work of Saul and the teaching by Prophet Isa is not like what the Christians practice nor the current bible is the book mentioned in our Holy Koran.

For me, if you understand that if one say only muslims are allowed to use the word Allah, then you are also acknowledging there are OTHER GODS? Muslim God, Christian God, Hindu God?

Who dares to say that only muslim is entitled to use the word Allah. Anyone who says that his God is Allah is better than saying his God is another thing. This people is easier to Da’wah.

i try to clarify something. what really happened in indonesia now and then is being applied in malaysia right now. i write about this issue briefly in my blog.

what we have in indonesia is actually the work of dutch orientalist named christiaan snouck hurgronje. he was employed by dutch east indies (VOC) to infiltrated Muslim opposition especially in acheh. acheh in that time was like kelantan. its their ‘serambi Mekah’, where for decades Muslims fighting wars against colonial dutch.

eventually they tried other method to forced achenese into submission. one of the method they used is what we have nere today, using word ‘Allah’ when refering to christian god.

while in some part i agreed with ahong, (some part only), we argue the doctrin of ‘god’ in christianity itself. and rather that doctrin is fit into what Islam has teach us in Al Quran and As Sunnah about Allah The Allmighty, which in my opinion, is not. in Al Quran Allah said ‘He begets not nor is He begotten’. this clearly answered what the christian claim fo holy trinity and the oknum, what-so-ever it is.

as in Usul Al Fiqh, there is Qaidah of Sadd Al Zari’ah of Zara’ik. its means in simple term as blocking the means. in practice its better to close the door which can lead to destruction even before the disasters itself occur.

in this case like i said earlier there is ‘mala fide’ or evil intention involved in this issue. we can see before this the catholic claim they have right to use word Allah refering god. if you all remember hindu sangam has claim injunction to intervene in this case, as they also claim right to use word Allah when refering hindu deity. and also we can see they gain support not only from same religious faith, but from other faith such as buddhist, sikh etc. its in reality is an assult toward Islam and Muslims in malaysia.

Interesting article on your blog brother. Lets think of it in a reverse way. People in this region always have the fear of Christianity. And it is because of this mind set that most will actually not learn other religion other than their own. Without clear understanding of Christianity the people will know the truth of this religion. If one know Christianity well, he/she wont be trapped by the Christian missionaries.

Ok going back to looking back at reverse, if we look at the western world, more and more people are reverting to Islam. The question is why? The best answer to fit that is because the of the da’wah done by our brothers and sisters in the western world. This people came to a conclusion that there is corruption in their religion (Christianity) and then find the truth of Islam. How do we share Islam to people who tries to find God/Allah? Do we say something like’ you know YOUR GOD is false?’
or ‘ YOUR GOD IS NOT GOD ?’. I would say ‘you know OUR GOD is….’

Its easy to reason out that Jesus is not Allah. Even the Coptic Christians knows that. A sane mind will.

In the Malaysian case, I will only blame myself of not doing enough da’wah. Malaysia have so many muslims but how many tried to reach out to the non-muslims? I have talked to some Asli people and most will tell you that muslim here will help in their reversion but eventually they will stop visit and it ends there. While the Christian missionaries will come over from time to time and they will bring money and gift in every visit.

As for the conversion of Malay muslims to Christians, I can tell you that its not because they were confused of Christianity but its because they are confused by the Islam practiced in Malaysia.
‘Christian easy ma, Islam so hard’
I heard this words before.

We have so many muslims and we cant fight a bunch of Christian missionaries? Anyone can see how strong the Malaysian muslim’s faith is. After so many years of independance, how many of us spread the truth and share Islam to the non-muslim. Maybe thats the reason the late Ahmad Deedat call us Malaysian muslim spineless ‘obor-obor’.

Bad intention only can only appear because of there is a ‘chance’. That chance or weakness is from us. Anyway the Hindu sangam will not succeed because even if they do, will they call all their deity Allah? Same name? Hahahaha… ‘membuka pekung di dada’

I look on the positive side of the name ‘Allah’ to be used by the Christians. They will not succeed to convert the literate people, they will look for the people who are illiterate and do not have knowledge in Islam. They will look for the people who are abandoned by the muslims in Malaysia.

I am sorry if I offended anyone with my ideas. Maybe I just look at the situation in another angle.

Salam,
I’m getting into both opinions here. While we should take advantage of the use of Allah by Christians we should also on the other hand be very careful with any hidden agenda. While more literate muslims look forward to da’wah with the non-muslims it will take a great effort to ensure that the less literate one (quite a number) will not hooked up to the opposite beliefs. About the use of Allah in Indonesia, I’ve stumbled upon them through reading their novels back at secondary school. I recalled reading ‘Karmilla’ where the author frequently uses ‘tuhan’, ‘bunda maria’ and Allah at the same time. It was quite confusing at first until the part when the main character visits a church then only I realize she is a christian. Even the term ‘naudzubillah’ was used when the main charater refer to bad occurences.

Waalaikumussalam azlan,ahong,
There’ve been many cases of born Malays becoming murtad, of Muslim reverts among orang asli who turned to Christianity, and one of the reasons is the use of literature in Malay. When words used are similar, people can easily become confused, especially among the less-educated and not-so-strong Muslims.
ahong, the issue here is not about trying to turn Christians into Muslims by using His Holy name. The real issue is whether we agree to let the Roman Catholics to spread their Christian teachings among Malaysians using the terms “Allah”, solat, Kaabah etc, which all this while has been gazetted as words relating to Islam. Should we allow Roman Catholics to tell people to pray to Allah – in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit? Would allah be pleased with us, the Muslims in Malaysia if we allow that to take place?

Waalaikumussalam KakChik, imm,azlan,ahong, mal887, jr,
KakChik & imm, Yes, well said..
Have you ever wondered why this issue of wanting to publish newsletter using the terminology is brought up only now, and not decades ago? Wonder why only in these few years we hear about born Muslims becoming Christians etc?
ahong, Amar Makruf Nahi Mungkar. We have been given the hidayah, we think hard but not everyone will have these gifts. That’s why we need to do dakwah to others, and at the same time esure that our own Muslim brothers and sisters are not swayed by the Christian propaganda.
mal887, agree with you.
If you are already confused by those terminology, imagine a young Muslim teenager who is just learning about Islam and have close friends passing the literature about a Christian Allah to him/her.

Waalaikumussalam Sakinah,
Yes, I do understand that the natives in Sarawak have been given Christian literature in B.Indonesia. We are not protesting the use of B.Indonesia bibles for Sarawakian Catholics but the use of the name ‘Allah’ to refer to God as worshipped by Roman Catholic Christians in the Malay version of the Herald newsletter.
I quote you “Kalau bahasa kami pula, “tuhan” itu disebut lain lagi”, so why still insist on the term ‘Allah’ when other words could be used?
Indonesia may be the most populated Muslim nation but the laws of that country is different from what we practise here.I for one, do not wish to see what’s happening to the general Muslim population in Indonesia to occur here in Malaysia.

True. The issue here, as i said earlier, is how the usage of Allah in the christian publication would be used to confuse the simple minded muslims. Yes, maybe we are quite fortunate to be able to differentiate Allah in Islam and in the christian minds, but then again, not everyone is capable of having our way of thinking.

While the effort to take advantage of the christian deviation is good, we should first see the adverse effect that might be the outcome of this usage in the future. It is always better to prevent than to cure.

Waalaikumussalam ahong,
Yes, thanks for the information. Readingislam.com is a large website and it takes a long time to read every article. So alhamdulillah for ahong’s latest comment.

I quote from http://www.readingislam.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-AAbout_Islam/AskAboutIslamE/AskAboutIslamE&cid=1123996015812
” Let us now look at the Arabic word Allah – we can immediately recognize the English word “all”, indeed we have herein one of the best characteristics of Allah’s attributes; The All-Knowing, All-Seeing, All-Hearing, All-Merciful etc. Every baby born anywhere in the world has, as his first utterance the short “a” sound. No new born ever cried out with an “s” or a “t” or a “d” or a “b” sound! All exclaim the “a” as an expression of the oneness of humanity, in relation to its Creator.
Also, all final deathbed gasps exhale the “h”, the last letter of the name of Allah. This is because He is the First and the Last! When we scream in pain or cry out in fear, or grunt and groan during strenuous exercise or disgust, or exclaim in joy or surprise, it is the very same… “ahhh”, and not the “g” of the word God that we all emit. This reality is intrinsic in our innermost selves, something out of our control!!
Why is this so, you may ask. It is because the word Allah refers to the concept of that which all turn to for refuge and repose. Without finding this state of rest and security, we are in a constant state of frustration and irritability. Our souls all yearn to reach the place of contentment, which can only be found by knowing Allah as He has revealed Himself to us, in the Qur’an.
Another interesting facet of the two related languages is the relation of the words “man” and “woman”. The word “man” (mim, nun) in Arabic is the personal pronoun for the human being, as in the English word “man”. Both languages use the term also in the sense of “who”. Therefore, the usage of the term “man” is nearly identical in both languages!
The word “wa” in Arabic means “and”. In English the word “woman” could be seen to be derived from the concept of a partner to the man. Therefore, the woman or “waman” as it might be more correctly rendered, can be construed as meaning “and-man” or “together with man”, the couple which forms the very essence of the human race… ”
Well.. that’s something we can add to our dakwah to non-Muslims 🙂

Inshaa Allaah you are well. Haven’t been to your blog in a while, very enlightening articles mashaa Allaah!

About this issue.. perhaps it is solely political, what do you think..?
Perhaps some non-Muslims in this country are trying to ‘push their luck’ and see how far they can go when it comes to dabbling in issues that involve Muslims..

It really isn’t about “We want to use Allaah” but more of “Let’s see how much they will bow down to our demands in Islamic matters..”

Just food for thought.

We don’t go dabbling in their religion, but they are happily doing much damage to ours, and sadly, the politicians have no knowledge or sense, and have allowed it all because of political standing.